Prague: Second-seeded Petra Kvitova came from a set down to beat seventh seed Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the Prague Open final played here, Saturday. It was the 23rd career WTA title for the two-time Wimbledon champion.
The Czech raced into a 3-0 lead but Buzarnescu took the opening set after winning five straight games. Kvitova committed five double faults and 23 unforced errors in the set, thus allowing the Romanian player to come back into the match.
In the second set, local favourite Kvitova save six breakpoints on her serve and broke Buzarnescu twice to restore parity in the match.
Kvitova broke Buzarnescu in the fourth game of the deciding set and held her serve for a 4-1 lead. The 10th-ranked Czech converted her first match point on clay on the way to her third title this year after wins at St Petersburg and Qatar.
“No doubt it feels great to win in front of my home crowd,” said Kvitova who was out of tennis for six months since surviving a knife attack in December 2016.
Svitolina advances
Meanwhile at the Madrid Open tennis tournament, fourth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine started her run at Saturday in an auspicious fashion, defeating Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2 in the first round.
During the 71-minute contest, Svitolina managed to break her rival’s serve five times, which in the process earned her the third career win over the French player in their fifth encounter.
The 23-year-old Svitolina, who won the Brisbane International and the Dubai Tennis Championships earlier this year, has failed to advance beyond the second round in her four previous tournament appearances.
Agencies
